Qigong for the Management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2MD) is a complex, chronic, metabolic disease with hyperglycemia arising from insulin resistance, progressive pancreatic beta cell failure, insufficient insulin secretion and increased hepatic glucose output. In the Chinese medicine theory, T2DM is often referred to as a form of Xiao Ke (消渴) or “wasting‐thirst disorder.” Genetic, dietary, lifestyle and environmental factors play a role in T2DM. People with a family history of diabetes or who are obese are at the highest risk of developing the disease. T2DM is often associated with hypertension, dyslipidemia and atherosclerosis and if not managed can lead to complications including cerebrovascular accident, peripheral vascular disease and nephropathy. T2DM can be well managed with biomedical and Chinese medicine treatment approaches. Lifestyle changes including appropriate diet and exercise are paramount in managing T2DM. Regular Qigong practice can be a beneficial part of one\u27s exercise routine for T2DM self‐care. Qigong exercise has shown promising results in clinical experience and in randomized, controlled pilot studies for affecting aspects of T2DM including positive associations between participation in Qigong and blood glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol, weight, BMI and insulin resistance. This chapter looks at how traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) views diabetes as well as new understandings of how Qigong can support the management of T2DM

Atmospheric predictability: revisiting the inherent finite-time barrier

The accepted idea that there exists an inherent finite-time barrier in deterministically predicting atmospheric flows originates from Edward N. Lorenz’s 1969 work based on two-dimensional (2D) turbulence. Yet, known analytic results on the 2D Navier-Stokes (N-S) equations suggest that one can skilfully predict the 2D N-S system indefinitely far ahead should the initial-condition error become sufficiently small, thereby presenting a potential conflict with Lorenz’s theory. Aided by numerical simulations, the present work re-examines Lorenz’s model and reviews both sides of the argument, paying particular attention to the roles played by the slope of the kinetic energy spectrum. It is found that when this slope is shallower than -3, the Lipschitz continuity of analytic solutions (with respect to initial conditions) breaks down as the model resolution increases, unless the viscous range of the real system is resolved – which remains practically impossible. This breakdown leads to the inherent finite-time limit. If, on the other hand, the spectral slope is steeper than -3, then the breakdown does not occur. In this way, the apparent contradiction between the analytic results and Lorenz’s theory is reconciled

Kava Components Down-Regulate Expression of AR and AR Splice Variants and Reduce Growth in Patient-Derived Prostate Cancer Xenografts in Mice

Men living in Fiji and drinking kava have low incidence of prostate cancer (PCa). However, the PCa incidence among Fijian men who had migrated to Australia, increased by 5.1-fold. We therefore examined the potential effects of kava root extracts and its active components (kavalactones and flavokawains) on PCa growth and androgen receptor (AR) expression. PCa cell lines (LNCaP, LAPC-4, 22Rv1, C4-2B, DU145 and PC-3) with different AR expression, and a transformed prostate myofibroblast cell line (WPMY-1), were treated with a commercial kava extract, kavalactones (kawain, 5′6′-dehydrokawain, yangonin, methysticin) and flavokawain B. Expression of AR and its target genes (PSA and TMPRSS2) was examined. Two novel patient-derived PCa xenograft models from high grade PCa specimens were established by implanting the specimens into nude mice and passing tumor pieces through subcutaneous injection in nude mice, and then treated with kava extract and flavokawain B to examine their effects on tumor growth, AR expression and serum PSA levels. The kava extract and flavokawain B effectively down-regulated the expression of both the full-length AR and AR splice variants. The kava extract and kavalactones accelerated AR protein degradation, while flavokawain B inhibited AR mRNA transcription via decreasing Sp1 expression and the binding of Sp1 to the AR promoter. The kava root extract and flavokawain B reduce tumor growth, AR expression in tumor tissues and levels of serum PSA in the patient-derived PCa xenograft models. These results suggest a potential usefulness of a safe kava product or its active components for prevention and treatment of advanced PCa by targeting AR

Poly[[tris­(μ2-4,4′-bipyridine N,N′-di­oxide)hexa­nitratodieuropium(III)] dichloro­methane disolvate]

The title one-dimensional coordination network, {[Eu2(NO3)6(C10H8N2O2)3]·2CH2Cl2}n, is isostructural with the previously reported Tb and Tl coordination networks and to its Gd analog. The EuIII cation is coordinated in a distorted tricapped trigonal-prismatic fashion by nine O atoms from three bridging 4,4′-bipyridine N,N′-dioxide ligands and three chelating nitrate anions. None of the atoms lie on a special position, but there is an inversion center located between the rings of one of the ligands. The network topology is ladder-like, and each ladder inter­acts with six neighboring ladders through C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. The packing motif of the ladders allows for the formation of channels that run parallel to the a axis; these channels are filled with CH2Cl2 solvent mol­ecules that inter­act with the ladders through C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds

Reconstructing galaxy fundamental distributions and scaling relations from photometric redshift surveys. Applications to the SDSS early-type sample

Noisy distance estimates associated with photometric rather than spectroscopic redshifts lead to a mis-estimate of the luminosities, and produce a correlated mis-estimate of the sizes. We consider a sample of early-type galaxies from the SDSS DR6 for which both spectroscopic and photometric information is available, and apply the generalization of the V_max method to correct for these biases. We show that our technique recovers the true redshift, magnitude and size distributions, as well as the true size-luminosity relation. We find that using only 10% of the spectroscopic information randomly spaced in our catalog is sufficient for the reconstructions to be accurate within about 3%, when the photometric redshift error is dz = 0.038. We then address the problem of extending our method to deep redshift catalogs, where only photometric information is available. In addition to the specific applications outlined here, our technique impacts a broader range of studies, when at least one distance-dependent quantity is involved. It is particularly relevant for the next generation of surveys, some of which will only have photometric information.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, 1 table, new section 3.1 and appendix added, MNRAS in pres

Ensemble prediction for nowcasting with a convection-permitting model—I: description of the system and the impact of radar-derived surface precipitation rates

A key strategy to improve the skill of quantitative predictions of precipitation, as well as hazardous weather such as severe thunderstorms and flash floods is to exploit the use of observations of convective activity (e.g. from radar). In this paper, a convection-permitting ensemble prediction system (EPS) aimed at addressing the problems of forecasting localized weather events with relatively short predictability time scale and based on a 1.5 km grid-length version of the Met Office Unified Model is presented. Particular attention is given to the impact of using predicted observations of radar-derived precipitation intensity in the ensemble transform Kalman filter (ETKF) used within the EPS. Our initial results based on the use of a 24-member ensemble of forecasts for two summer case studies show that the convective-scale EPS produces fairly reliable forecasts of temperature, horizontal winds and relative humidity at 1 h lead time, as evident from the inspection of rank histograms. On the other hand, the rank histograms seem also to show that the EPS generates too much spread for forecasts of (i) surface pressure and (ii) surface precipitation intensity. These may indicate that for (i) the value of surface pressure observation error standard deviation used to generate surface pressure rank histograms is too large and for (ii) may be the result of non-Gaussian precipitation observation errors. However, further investigations are needed to better understand these findings. Finally, the inclusion of predicted observations of precipitation from radar in the 24-member EPS considered in this paper does not seem to improve the 1-h lead time forecast skill

Local Benchmarks for the Evolution of Major-Merger Galaxies -- Spitzer Observations of a K-Band Selected Sample

We present Spitzer observations for a sample of close major-merger galaxy pairs (KPAIR sample) selected from 2MASS/SDSS-DR3 cross-matches. The goals are to study the star formation activity in these galaxies and to set a local bench mark for the cosmic evolution of close major mergers. The Spitzer KPAIR sample (27 pairs, 54 galaxies) includes all spectroscopically confirmed S+S and S+E pairs in a parent sample that is complete for primaries brighter than K=12.5 mag, projected separations of 5< s < 20 kpc/h, and mass ratios<2.5. The Spitzer data consist of images in 7 bands (3.6, 4.5, 5.8, 8, 24, 70, 160 um). Compared to single spiral galaxies in a control sample, only spiral galaxies in S+S pairs show significantly enhanced specific star formation rate (sSFR=SFR/M), whereas spiral galaxies in S+E pairs do not. Furthermore, the SFR enhancement of spiral galaxies in S+S pairs is highly mass-dependent. Only those with \rm M \gsim 10^{10.5} M_\sun show significant enhancement. Relatively low mass (\rm M \sim 10^{10} M_\sun) spirals in S+S pairs have about the same SFR/M compared to their counterparts in the control sample. There is evidence for a correlation between the global star formation activities (but not the nuclear activities) of the component galaxies in massive S+S major-merger pairs (the "Holmberg effect"). There is no significant difference in the SFR/M between the primaries and the secondaries, nor between spirals of SEP<1 and those of SEP.1. The contribution of KPAIR galaxies to the cosmic SFR density in the local universe is only 1.7%.Comment: 73 pages; accpected by Ap

Two fossil groups of galaxies at z~0.4 in the COSMOS: accelerated stellar-mass build-up, different progenitors

We report on 2 fossil groups of galaxies at z=0.425 and 0.372 discovered in the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) area. Selected as X-ray extended sources, they have total masses (M_200) of 1.9(+/-0.41)E13 and 9.5(+/-0.42)E13 M_sun, respectively, as obtained from a recent X-ray luminosity-mass scaling relation. The lower mass system appears isolated, whereas the other sits in a well-known large-scale structure (LSS) populated by 27 other X-ray emitting groups. The identification as fossil is based on the i-band photometry of all the galaxies with a photo-z consistent with that of the group at the 2-sigma confidence level and within a projected group-centric distance equal to 0.5R_200, and i_AB<=22.5-mag limited spectroscopy. Both fossil groups exhibit high stellar-to-total mass ratios compared to all the X-ray selected groups of similar mass at 0.3<=z<=0.5 in the COSMOS. At variance with the composite galaxy stellar mass functions (GSMFs) of similarly massive systems, both fossil group GSMFs are dominated by passively evolving galaxies down to M^stars~1E10 M_sun (according to the galaxy broad-band spectral energy distributions). The relative lack of star-forming galaxies with 1E10<=M^stars<=1E11 M_sun is confirmed by the galaxy distribution in the b-r vs i color-magnitude diagram. Hence, the 2 fossil groups appear as more mature than the coeval, similarly massive groups. Their overall star formation activity ended rapidly after an accelerated build up of the total stellar mass; no significant infall of galaxies with M^stars>=1E10 M_sun took place in the last 3 to 6 Gyr. This similarity holds although the 2 fossil groups are embedded in two very different density environments of the LSS, which suggests that their galaxy populations were shaped by processes that do not depend on the LSS. However, their progenitors may do so. ...Comment: 12 pages, 5 color figures, 1 table; to be published in the MNRA

Family-Based Samples Can Play an Important Role in Genetic Association Studies

Over the past two decades, DNA samples from thousands of families have been collected and genotyped for linkage studies of common complex diseases such as type 2 diabetes, asthma and prostate cancer. Unfortunately, little success has been achieved in identifying genetic susceptibility risk factors through these considerable efforts. However, significant success in identifying common disease risk-associated variants has been recently achieved from genome-wide association (GWA) studies using unrelated case-control samples. These GWA studies are typically performed using population-based cases and controls that are ascertained irrespective of their family history for the disease of interest. Few genetic association studies have taken full advantage of the considerable resources that are available from the linkage-based family collections despite evidence showing cases that have a positive family history of disease are more likely to carry common genetic variants associated with disease susceptibility. Herein, we argue that population stratification is still a concern in case-control genetic association studies, despite the development of analytic methods designed to account for this source of confounding, for a subset of SNPs in the genome, most notably those SNPs in regions involved with natural selection. We note that current analytic approaches designed to address the issue of population stratification in case-control studies cannot definitively distinguish between true and false associations and we argue that family-based samples can still serve an invaluable role in following-up findings from case-control studies